A variety of approaches and systems have been developed for producing ion beams. Such approaches and systems may include an electrode that produces an electric field in response to receiving a voltage, where the electric field may interact with gas around the electrode to produce an ion beam. The developed approaches and systems for producing an ion beam may require a delay after initially receiving a voltage before the ion beam is produced due to a need for the electric field to initiate breakdown of the gas (e.g., a gas with neutral gas atoms) into charged ions. Of the known approaches and systems for producing an ion beam, each has certain advantages and disadvantages.